Fairylights And Snow

Hello my dear friends,

in England Christmas lights and light chains overall are called fairy lights and I really do think that is such a neat name to call them because at times they really do have something fairy like about them.

I particularly love the way snow can make  almost any place look magical and enchanted. Add lights to that and perfect. It seems that we had winter for only just about one week so far. It didn't snow at Christmas at all and then suddenly about a week ago we were hit by a winter storm which finally brought us the beautiful whiteness. Unfortunately it didn't last very long. I just managed to get a few pictures and it was already gone again.

 Snow and colorful lights are like cookies and cream, apple pie and ice cream ~ they just go together.

These are my two deer that stood on my deck in the backyard this Christmas.  The right deer was may Christmas present from my daughters last year but unfortunately his lights decided not to work after a while but he still looks lovely in the snow.

This was on the evening when it had started to snow ...

... and this is how beautiful it looked in the morning!

                                  My side gate before I had to clear all the white beauty.

Just love, love, love snow!

Right now everything is back to green and brown here but we might still get a bit of winter weather the end of the month ~ we will just have to wait and see. My snow blower is ready and waiting so I am not too worried.

I hope you are all well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

My Last Findings Of The Old Year

Hello my dear friends,

I didn't get a chance so far to share my newest treasures with you since I have been so busy over the holidays. I am not really a 'Boxing Day Sale' person but I do love finding new treasures like many of you do as well.

My newest treasures are all for this coming Christmas either as is or to be used in a creation.

 

Lovely white metal snowflakes ~ the detail on these is so beautiful ...

and these are stars that are made the same way.

 

I couldn't walk past this old crumb tray ...

The engraving is just so pretty (sorry about the picture not being too clear)

... old tattered plates and trays are always handy to have ~ you never know when you might have an idea where you would need one!

This next treasure\finding is all for me myself! I found it a few days ago and at first I wasn't sure if I really liked it or not ~ but in the end I just had make it mine!

 

My first Christmas house!

It's not old or vintage but it's so pretty.

 

It will need a tiny bit of work to it because it was damaged by being not handled properly in the store and I am looking forward to fixing it and of course I will share the result with you when I have finished it. So I hope you will keep stopping by and checking in to see what I will share with you lovely bloggers another time.

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

(post as written on Dec.31st 2011)

'Winter Time' ~ My Last Creation Of 2011

Hello my dear friends,

today I would like to share my third and last cigar box creation for this Christmas/Winter and this year. It has been so much fun making these that I might try and think of a different theme (not Christmas) and make some more!

I hope you have seem my first and second cigar box creation that I shared with you last week, but if not here are a few photos so you can see all three in the same post.

My first creation was ...

~ Oh my little Christmas tree ~

After that came ...

~ My very own Winter wonderland ~

(I had a little something go wrong with posting this creation. I accidentally posted it on the same day as the first one.)

And now for my last creation ...

~ Winter Time ~

For this creation I used a small glitter cardboard house that I had found at the grocery store and not in an antique store. It needed a bit of 'renovation work' doing to it because I didn't like the chimney that was on it so I took it off and replaced it and now it looks just right.

This little scene reminds me of a small old cottage somewhere in the UK or Scotland after the first night of snowfall.

Whilst looking through my stash of music sheets I was lucky enough to actually find the title page for the background inside the box. And it had the perfect title for this creation! Now that was so fantastic!

Think about it ~ you could make either all the rooms of a house or a little village using cigar boxes. You could stack them up together, stand them next to each other or just have them standing on their own in your bookcase or dresser. Wouldn't that just look lovely?

Again I truly  hope you have enjoyed this creation as much as I loved making it. Now I am going to get back to the 'drawing board' and see what might appear on paper for me to create next.



I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.
(post as written on Dec.30th 2011)

Life Goes On ...

Hello my dear friends,

I would like to thank you for all your heartfelt words and prayers after the passing of my Mum. You are all so thoughtful, kind and sweet! It means so much to me.

At this moment in time I am not too sure how I really feel, rather empty at moments and then so relieved that my Mum is at peace now. On top of everything happening here I received a phone call from my Uncle in BC a few days ago telling me that my Aunt (my Mum's sister) had an accident in which she broke her leg badly and she needed to have surgery the next morning. It seems that life right now is just throwing things at me and my family that nobody thought would happen. I can just hope that it will come to an end sooner than later.


Before any of this happened I had written a few posts at the end of the year but I never got a chance to share them with you. One of the posts is the last one of my cigar box creations called 'Winter Time' which I will finally share with you tomorrow.

I am not sure what I am going to do right now, do I take a tiny break from Todolwen to come to terms with what has happened or do I throw myself into creating to keep my mind off of things? I don't really know just yet. I am hoping to find the answer to that question soon.

~ Never forget to say 'I love you' to those that you love the most ~

I hope you are all well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.

My Heart Is Broken

My dear friends,


it is with the most sadness that I have to share with you today that yesterday evening, on January 1st 2012, after being very ill my dear Mum past away.

She had  tried to battle cancer and come to terms with having dementia for the past 3 months when suddenly she fell asleep last night. After visiting her yesterday morning I had prayed to God and asked him to take her so to be with  him so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore and he heard me and granted me my wish. It is so very hard to come to terms with but I am so happy for her that her fight and her pain is over.

We were so fortunate to be able to celebrate her 74th birthday with her in the hospital last October.

 

My Mummy and me a long time ago

Elsie Kujus

1937 ~ 2012

I will miss you so much Dickie!!!

I wish you all a peaceful day,

Karen B.

My New Years Wishes For You

Hello my dear friends,

I would like to share my wishes for you for the New Year.

I wish you health for you and your loved ones ...

I wish that life will always treat you kind and bring you little sorrow ...

I wish you success in everything you do ...

I wish you all the happiness in the world ...

(this image is with courtesy from The Graphics Fairy)

I wish you a very Happy New Year!

From my home to yours,

from my heart to yours,

I wish you all the best in 2012!

Have a peaceful day,

Karen B.

My Very Own Winter Wonderland

Hello my dear friends,

I got such a buzz from my last creation I just had to make another. Still have being very busy with wrapping gifts, cooking Christmas dinner, visiting my poor Mom who is still in hospital, I took a little time out for myself again to create my second little cigar box 'something' before Christmas and today I would like to finally share it with you.

Since we had almost no snow at all here this Christmas time I decided to create my own little snowy Winter Wonderland.

 I am really happy with the way this creation worked out ~ exactly the way I had imagined it!

Just as I did with the first box I covered this one too - inside and outside with music sheets.

I decided to give the tiny tree a wee star so it would be the Christmas tree of the woods.

All around my little Winter Wonderland it is snowing the most pretty little snowflakes.

I just love, love, love my snowflake punches!

I found this wee bunny at a flea market. It came as a set of four animals ~ squirrel, weasel and of course the bunny.

I hope you have enjoyed my newest wintery creation.

Since I have one more of these little cigar boxes left right now and it would be a shame not to use it really and I already have a new idea waiting to be brought to life, well ... I am working on my third winter creation right now and hopefully it will be ready in a day or two so I can share it will you again.

So I hope to see you here soon again!

I hope you are well and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.